State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Lanzhou, 730000, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Lanzhou, 730000, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, 100101, China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2021 Jan 1;207:111228. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.111228. Epub 2020 Sep 2.
Atmospheric heavy metals have important environmental and health threats. To investigate atmospheric deposition and contamination of heavy metal elements in the glaciers of the eastern Tibetan Plateau (ETP), we collected the surface snow (cryoconites) samples in the Lenglongling Glacier (LG), the Gannan Snowpack (GS), the Dagu Glacier (DG), the Hailuogou Glacier (HG) and Yulong Snow-mountain Glacier (YG) in summer 2017. Samples were analyzed for concentrations and enrichment factors (EFs) of Al and trace elements (Pb, Co, Cd, Ba, Mn, Ga, Sc, V, Zn, Cr, Ni, Cu, Rb, Sb, Cs, As, Mo, Li) using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Results showed that the concentrations and EFs of heavy metals (e.g. Sb, Cu, Cr, Ni, As, Mo) were generally high value in YG, GS and LG, while were relatively low value in DG and HG, implying that ETP glaciers may have been affected by atmospheric anthropogenic pollutants deposition to varying degrees. Comparing the heavy metal concentrations in the glaciers with those in the precipitation of middle/eastern China cities and also the South Asian cities, we find that the glacial heavy metal concentrations were generally low level, though the anthropogenic pollutants were still significantly enriched. Taking the spatial distribution of As and Ni concentration/EFs in the glaciers and surrounding urban precipitation as an example, we find that the heavy metal pollutants were probably transported to the glaciers through three routes from the surrounding densely populated area of Asia. The MODIS AOD and NCEP/NCAR wind vector also demonstrated that the atmospheric pollutants originated from anthropogenic emissions of urban areas of both South Asia, and northwest and east China, mainly caused by the large scale atmospheric circulation (e.g. the South Asian Monsoon, westerlies and Eastern Asian Summer Monsoon). Therefore, control of these potential pollution emission sources of the surrounding densely populated areas in Asia could be important to ETP glaciers in future perspectives.
大气重金属具有重要的环境和健康威胁。为了研究青藏高原东部（ETP）冰川大气沉降和重金属元素的污染，我们于 2017 年夏季采集了冷龙岭冰川（LG）、甘南极地冰芯（GS）、大古冰川（DG）、海螺沟冰川（HG）和玉龙雪山冰川（YG）的表面雪（雪衣藻）样本。利用电感耦合等离子体质谱仪（ICP-MS）对样品中 Al 和痕量元素（Pb、Co、Cd、Ba、Mn、Ga、Sc、V、Zn、Cr、Ni、Cu、Rb、Sb、Cs、As、Mo、Li）的浓度和富集因子（EFs）进行了分析。结果表明，在 YG、GS 和 LG 中，重金属（如 Sb、Cu、Cr、Ni、As、Mo）的浓度和 EF 通常较高，而在 DG 和 HG 中则相对较低，这表明 ETP 冰川可能受到大气人为污染物沉降的不同程度影响。将冰川中的重金属浓度与中国中东部城市和南亚城市的降水重金属浓度进行比较，发现冰川重金属浓度普遍处于较低水平，但人为污染物仍明显富集。以冰川和周围城市降水砷和镍浓度/EF 的空间分布为例，我们发现重金属污染物可能通过三条途径从亚洲人口稠密区输送到冰川。MODIS AOD 和 NCEP/NCAR 风向矢量也表明，大气污染物源自南亚、中国西北和东部城市地区的人为排放，主要由大规模大气环流（如南亚季风、西风和东亚夏季风）引起。因此，控制亚洲这些人口稠密地区的潜在污染排放源可能对未来 ETP 冰川非常重要。
